The Beijing Olympic flame
reached the top of Mt. Qomolangma at 9:18 am Beijing time Thursday.

Chinese climbers display an Olympic torch, an Olympic flame
lantern, a flag of International Olympic Committee, a Chinese
National flag and a flag of the 29th Olympic Games at the top
of the 8844.43-meter summit of Mt. Qomolangma in southwest
China's Tibet Autonomous Region on May 8, 2008.

The last of the five
torchbearers, Cering Wangmo, hoisted the sacred flame at the world's highest
summit.

The relay on Mt. Qomolangma
started with female climber Gyigyias the first bearer and Wang Yongfeng as the
second. A dozen of climbers celebrated at the 8,844-meter summit, holding the
Chinese national flag, the Beijing Olympic flag and the five-ring Olympic
flag.

Norbu Zhamdu (L) lights the Olympic torch of the first
torchbearer Gegyi with a kindling at the top of the
8844.43-meter summit of Mt. Qomolangma in southwest
China's Tibet Autonomous Region on May 8, 2008.

Nineteen Chinese mountaineers
left the top of Mount Qomolangma at about 10 a.m. Beijing Time Thursday after
relaying the Olympic torch on the world's highest peak. Five mountaineers
relayed the torch over the last 100 meters leading to the top for about six
minutes, before the last bearer and female mountaineer Tsering Wangmo stood on
the peak with the flame. The mountaineers stayed at the top for about one
hour. A 30-meter relay on the world's highest peak has started with female
climber Gyigyi as the first bearer and Wang Yongfeng as the second. The last
torch bearer, a young Tibetan girl from Tibet Mountaineering School, had
climbed Everest once in 2006.

You can see video and more at
cctv, watching the Summit live was cool ....

On to others climbers now :)

Unofficial news: The Chinese
has started their summit attempt!

Official news: A total of 19
mountaineers have been selected to bring the Olympic flame to the summit of
Mount Qomolanga (known in the West as Mount Everest), the mountaineering
headquarters announced at a press conference tonight. They will likely reach
the peak between 10:00-11:00 a.m. (0200-0300 GMT) on May 8.

Earlier: Published reports from a
climber that the Chinese summited a couple of day ago and had trouble with the
torch has some Chinese mad as heck our sources tell EverestNews.com. Note
EverestNews.com did NOT carry those reports and have seen NO evidence that the
Chinese summited Everest this season yet. Our sources tell us that
climbers were fixing rope high but that the summit was not reached and that
the summit was not the goal. Our sources tell us that action might be taken
against those climbers or against "many" of the climbers on the South side
(Nepal) because of these reports, the sources state are false. The effects
could vary from bans of climbers to a "few more days of waiting at base camp"
before they are allowed to go up. Climbers have been warned against reporting
this year. Things might get ugly.

In official news the Chinese
report that the climbers have been selected and that all preparations have
been completed. There are 50 climbers on the team. Han Chinese, ethnic
Tibetans, and other ethnic groups such as ethnic Hui, Tu and Tujia are
including in the team. We expect the weather to turn worse for 2-3 days, while
summits are possible conditions are far from ideal.

Earlier: Chinese climbers (and Tibetan
climbers of course) are on the move up Mt Everest. They have 16 torches with
them! The Hong Kong reporter who got altitude sickness and then got in a
traffic accident has quite a story to tell. The ambulance crashed and
overturned in a stream. Four people were on the stretchers in the ambulance
(unclear who the others were).

Did we mention Chinese
fighter jets were flying above the Summit today.... The North side of Everest
is still the wild wild west....

Earlier: The Chinese have left Chinese
Base camp with the torch! Note this is base camp, NOT advanced base camp....
Stay Tuned, the SHOW IS ON !!

Earlier: The Chinese / Tibetan
climbers are finding high winds on the North Side of Everest. If they are
watching and listening: Our ACE forecaster tell us May 3rd and May 6th are the
best possible days to summit! The snow level is light on the North side. Two
reporters from Hong Kong got high altitude sickness and were forced to retreat
to the Tingri hospital. One of the two had a traffic accident during the night
retreat. he is slightly hurt but , ok....

Ropes are fixed to 8300
Meters. The Chinese in their tradition are expected to attack the summits in
waves of climbers... Stay Tuned!

Earlier: The Chinese /
Tibetan climbers have reached 8300 meters! It is unclear if this is the first
summit attempt or not. The Chinese is known for waves of attempts. Our ACE
forecaster tell us May 3rd and May 6th are the best possible days to summit.
Reporters are now in Chinese base camp... Stay Tuned....

Earlier: The
Chinese summit attempt is not expected to start from 8300 meters on April
28th. How much the Chinese are delayed appears to be a state secret. But
summits are now not expected until May ..... As the Summit day moves back the
pressure on South Side commercial guides will grow exponentially.

11 foreign journalists including
Dolf Reist and the BBC have left to join 19 Chinese journalists headed to
Everest Base camp.

Earlier: Climbers on the Tibetan side of Everest at 7500 meters. High
winds. Ropes only to 7500 meters. A long way to go....

Earlier: March 15 Started to establish BC

March 31, mobile phone service in the region was on.

April 3, climbers, about 50 in total, started to move to
ABC

Route to North Col had been cleared up, rope fixed. Hundreds
of porters are now moving to higher altitude.....

The torch fire will be carried to and lighted up on the Top.
3 summit pushes was planned. The first bid might be from 8300M on April 28,
depending on the weather condition

Earlier:
The Chinese are widening and improving the road to Everest Base Camp for
Spring 2008. Yes it will include asphalt paving on at least part of the road.
While Environmentalists have expressed concern, commercial Everest operators
and Everest climbers have not that we have heard of....

The plans will allow many "tourists" to visit Everest base
camp and the possibly see the torch-bearers of the Olympic Games. The road
frankly will make things safer, hotels are very unlikely...

It does appear the government still has to approve final
plans, which appear to be moving ahead...